Since I happen to be in Belfast visiting family, and since this is probably not getting to much coverage in America, check it:
East Belfast riots ‘a wake-up call’, says Baggott
Two nights of riot mayhem this week are a “wake-up call” for Northern Ireland, PSNI chief constable Matt Baggott has warned.
Speaking as First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness pledged to work to try to prevent a repeat of the violence in east Belfast, the police chief spoke of his sadness that the province was taking “two steps forward and one step back”.
It is understood Mr Robinson yesterday met UVF leaders as part of efforts to maintain calm. After briefing the Policing Board on details of the flashpoint flare-up, Mr Baggott also claimed dialogue is key to avoiding a summer of trouble and tension.
He said: “We should recognise that in some places the peace is fragile and it’s a wake-up call to us all to redouble our efforts to make Northern Ireland the safe, prosperous place everybody wants.”
With a senior civil servant tasked with investigating the problems in east Belfast, First Minister Peter Robinson said the focus was on avoiding a repeat of the chaos which damaged the reputation of the province in the week of golfer Rory McIlroy’s US Open triumph.
“Where there are genuine concerns, we want to help,” he said. “We represent and care about this whole community and we want to hear what it has to say.”
Many media commentators, some London-based, some local, who spend little time on the ground in places like the Lower Newtownards Road or Short Strand, bought into the line that this latest conflagration was the result of spontaneous working class loyalist anger.
They argued that, because loyalist paramilitaries had no representation in the Stormont parliament or that because socioeconomic or educational attainment was low in poor Protestant areas around eastern Belfast, these communities suddenly erupted in anger.
In doing so, the commentators swallowed a fairy tale as faux as the make-believe pirate battles on Sunday.
Returning from a short break in the west of Ireland, I bumped into a resident of the Short Strand on the Dublin to Belfast train last Friday morning. She is a woman I have known for more than 30 years, who has no love for republican paramilitaries or wants, in any way, to see a return to violence.
Over the two and a half hour journey north, she explained in grim detail how her home in one end of the Short Strand district was attacked while her daughter’s house was subjected, simultaneously, to a similar bombardment in another part of the area.
She explained that the sortie began with military precision around 9pm on Monday, that all of those who attacked their homes were wearing surgical gloves, masks and combat uniforms, that they arrived with wheelie bins stuffed with bricks, bottles and other missiles, and that the entire attack appeared to be well organised.
Irish Gangster Whitey Bulger Captured in Santa Monica
Authorities at a multiagency news conference in Boston praised their own persistence and tenacity in the capture of legendary crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger, and credited public service announcements for leading them to the fugitive in Santa Monica.
The announcements were launched Monday and Tuesday in 14 markets across the country where Bulger and his companion, Catherine Elizabeth Greig, 60, had been spotted or had past ties.
Bulger, 81, who has been on the run for more than 15 years, fled Boston in late 1994 as federal agents were about to arrest him in connection with at least 19 killings, racketeering and other crimes that spanned the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. He headed an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals and other illegal activities in the Boston area.
When you roll south of The Orange Curtain, there is one type of Game that regins supreme: San Diego Late Night Taco Shop Game.
In fact, because of the Police State that California has become, it is a great move to skip the Nightclubs and Bars in San Diego altogether, and just hit up The Taco Shops (The Del Mar Racetrack is of course, acceptable) late night. Especially if you are a player on a budget.
Late Night Taco Shop Game is a specific skillset and is a great Budget Game move for playboys low on scratch.
Side Note: Oftentimes, The G Manifesto is criticized for only having high-end Game moves. Sure the high-end Game moves are the best you will find anywhere, but I disagree. In fact, I challenge anyone to find a better resource for Budget Game moves than The G Manifesto. Check the archives, there are tons.
Here is what you need to do:
Swagger
After the bars close, and you roll up in the candy painted drop top Impala, tripping off pisto in the cup to the Taco Shop, come with mad swagger. Chingón. Keep in mind, this is not the kind of swagger you need for Miami Beach. Think less Muhammad Ali and think more Julio Cesar Chavez:
Knowledge
When you see the fly girls in line waiting to get their California Burritos, place their order for them. Speak Spanish for Style Points. You need to show them you know “what up” with the taco shop Game. Alternative opener: ask them “Have you ever had an Al Pastor before?”
Then work it from there.
LIL ROB JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS
Gear
Surprisingly enough, you don’t need to go Custom Suited Down for Taco Shop Game. I mean, of course it works, however, you might be well advised to take off the shirt and the jacket and just roll slacks and the wife beater. This way, you won’t squirt any guac on your Custom jacket when you bite into your three rolled tacos with extra guac.
Aggression
If you see some firme hynas open, make your move. Many people use Late Night Taco Shop Game as a last ditch effort, and guys get aggressive. Tons of cats start pitching Beaks and Beans at girls. Counter that aggression with aggression of your own. Surgical Mayhem, if you will.
Fights
When you are spitting top flight Taco Shop Game, you need to watch for rival crews and clickas. I could literally write volumes of stories about Taco Shop brawls I have witnessed or have been a participant.
Here is a good one from back in the day:
One evening, I was chilling at a famous Taco Shop in La Jolla, post Chronic Jay. I was keeping it real, enjoying a Carne Asada Burrito, when at the same time, a crew of three Mexicans (not Eses, think more rich TJ heads, possibly Narco Juniors) and two local guys from the LJC walked in at the same time.
I wasn’t really paying attention, but they started beefing. The La Jolla heads where getting all “locals” vibe on the Mexican cats and trying to get them to back down. Suddenly, one of the TJ cats grabbed a Carnitas Burrito and slammed it straight into the mug of the bigger of the two LJ guys. Guacamole, Salsa and Shredded Pork went flying everywhere and splattered all over the menu board.
I was pretty high, but I was quick enough to jump on the table and avoid the melee that proceeded to incorporate chips with cheese and guac, rice and beans, flying saucers, Pollo Asado, mad salsas and mad guac all over the place, not to mention punches. Two of the cats were even rolling around in the stuff of the floor and the place became a full-on messy Mex-fest.
Realizing that my only way out, and avoid carne, salsa an guac all over my clothes, I jumped from table to table and hopped out the door with the food fight/fisticuffs in full swing.
I even still had half my Carne Asada Burrito still in check. And not a drop of guac on me. Smooth.
So watch the fights when you are spitting Taco Shop Game, some of them can be way more sinister.
Side note:
The G Manifesto might be taking a new direction with these super specialized innovative Game styles. These days, I feel so far gone, that I am almost on my way back.
(This is the reason a lot of Floyd’s opponents “forget to use the jab” against him.)
However, I do it a little different, with a lead jab, pullback, then the right over top of the opponents jab. But that is neither high heels nor hacked up deals.
Since with The Salsa Swoop Move, you “pull back” when you act like you don’t know salsa and you “land” the right over the top when you “pick it up quick”.
